Overview

"A successful radiologist and elite athlete, Dr. Dave tended to the blistered feet of strangers on racecourses and gave away many of his trophies. He was appreciated for his generosity and camaraderie with family, friends, colleagues, and adventure-racing teammates, the latter of whom usually accompanied him on excursions. But he embarked on his final pursuit alone-an attempt to summit all fifty-four of the fourteeners in Colorado-and made an unknowable error that caused him to fall two hundred feet to his death. When people learned that he had died, they often asked his sister, the only girl and the baby of the family, ""Were you close?"" The question, seemingly straightforward, haunted her and begged for a deeper answer, requiring an exploration that took a decade. She invites the reader along on her own journey as she searches for a greater understanding about who her brother was, why his passions were worth risking everything, and how to carry on in the world and in her family without him, ultimately becoming even closer to him in death than in life. Were You Close? challenges the cultural notion that the bereaved can or should simply ""get over"" their losses, illustrating that integrating these experiences can actually help a mourner not just heal, but move forward with clarified purpose."

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9783988320001

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Reviews

"""A masterful guide to loving and losing the extraordinary among us."" Mary E. Plouffe Ph.D., author of I Know It in My Heart: Walking through Grief with a Child ""An achingly candid debut memoir ... written with tenderness and reverence."" Melanie Brooks, author of A Hard Silence ""Grief experts categorize those of us who have lost siblings as ""forgotten mourners,"" and society does not recognize the death of a brother or sister as a major loss. In Were You Close?, Anne Pinkerton challenges such misconceptions by bringing her brother David and the pain of his death to the page, illuminating just how enormous this loss is."" Ann Hood, author of Comfort: A Journey Through Grief ""With the energy, skill, muscle and bravery that powered her beloved late brother as an elite extreme adventurer, Anne Pinkerton's Were You Close? is as much map as memoir illustrating how the author scaled her personal mountain range of grief."" Suzanne Strempek Shea, author of Songs from a Lead-Lined Room: Notes-High and Low-from My Journey through Breast Cancer and Radiation ""A heartfelt exploration of risk, loss, and self-discovery in the aftermath of tragedy. Pinkerton's generous memoir shines a necessary light on the hard road to writing about the death of a beloved sibling."" Jessica Handler, author of Invisible Sisters ""Anne Pinkerton is the real deal - an honest, unflinching memoirist who illuminates the dark corners of grief ... a true memoirist - a writer who doesn't write to find absolute answers but to articulate deeper questions."" Anthony D'Aries, author of The Language of Men: A Memoir ""This is a memoir, but also a book that I believe has a chance to change the lives and sorrow of anyone who enters."" Mel Allen, Editor, Yankee Magazine ""Grief is big and wild and forever shift-shaping within us. Anne Pinkerton gets that... It is lyrical, accessible, and a necessary contribution to the literature of loss."" Gabrielle Birkner, co-author, Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome."

A masterful guide to loving and losing the extraordinary among us. Mary E. Plouffe Ph.D., author of I Know It in My Heart: Walking through Grief with a Child An achingly candid debut memoir ... written with tenderness and reverence. Melanie Brooks, author of A Hard Silence Grief experts categorize those of us who have lost siblings as forgotten mourners, and society does not recognize the death of a brother or sister as a major loss. In Were You Close?, Anne Pinkerton challenges such misconceptions by bringing her brother David and the pain of his death to the page, illuminating just how enormous this loss is. Ann Hood, author of Comfort: A Journey Through Grief With the energy, skill, muscle and bravery that powered her beloved late brother as an elite extreme adventurer, Anne Pinkerton's Were You Close? is as much map as memoir illustrating how the author scaled her personal mountain range of grief. Suzanne Strempek Shea, author of Songs from a Lead-Lined Room: Notes-High and Low-from My Journey through Breast Cancer and Radiation A heartfelt exploration of risk, loss, and self-discovery in the aftermath of tragedy. Pinkerton's generous memoir shines a necessary light on the hard road to writing about the death of a beloved sibling. Jessica Handler, author of Invisible Sisters Anne Pinkerton is the real deal - an honest, unflinching memoirist who illuminates the dark corners of grief ... a true memoirist - a writer who doesn't write to find absolute answers but to articulate deeper questions. Anthony D'Aries, author of The Language of Men: A Memoir This is a memoir, but also a book that I believe has a chance to change the lives and sorrow of anyone who enters. Mel Allen, Editor, Yankee Magazine Grief is big and wild and forever shift-shaping within us. Anne Pinkerton gets that... It is lyrical, accessible, and a necessary contribution to the literature of loss. Gabrielle Birkner, co-author, Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.

Author Information

Anne Pinkerton studied poetry at Hampshire College and received an MFA in creative nonfiction from Bay Path University. Her writing often focuses on making sense of challenging life experiences; significant themes include loss, illness, grief, and coping. She has been published in Modern Loss, Hippocampus Magazine, Entropy, Ars Medica, Lunch Ticket, The Bark, the anthology The Pandemic Midlife Crisis: Gen X Women on the Brink, and elsewhere. 'Were You Close?' was a semi-finalist for the 2019 River Teeth Book Prize. Pinkerton lives in western Massachusetts where she works as a marketing communications professional. Visit AnnePinkertonWriter.com

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